Prior railroad gates have a notable drawback, their lack of an intelligent monitoring and control capability. That is, prior gates provide for little more than the most basic monitoring and control functions. Monitoring the gates is generally achieved through visual inspection, and controlling them involves switching between the “up” and “down” positions. In particular, prior gates do not provide for remote monitoring of the gate and/or crossing, and do not provide for programmable control of the gate.
Moreover, railroad grade crossing assemblies that are currently in use only close the road in the direction of traffic to within one foot of the center line. Therefore, the present railroad gates allow for a vehicle operator to make an S turn across the track thereby creating the potential for disaster. As a result, the railroads are currently under pressure to put in additional gates to completely close vehicle access to the tracks. It has therefore been found desirable to provide a railroad gate which allows a gate crossing to be completely closed prior to the arrival of a train.
A drawback in designing a railroad gate which completely closes the gate crossing is that is must comply with time requirement for closing a railroad crossing which are determined by federal, state and municipal governments. It is therefore further desirable to provide a railroad gate which not only completely closes the gate crossing but also complies with the time requirements for closing a railroad crossing which are determined by federal, state and municipal governments.
Another obstacle to designing a railroad gate that completely closes the gate crossing is the length/height of such a gate. The longer gate arm required to completely close the crossing results in a taller gate when the gate is in the “up” position, thereby making the gate more likely to suffer wind damage and to interfere with overhead obstructions such as power lines. Accordingly, there is a desire to design a gate that completely closes the crossing yet remains relatively short when in the “up” position.
Currently, the installation of a single new railroad gate at a railroad crossing can cost upwards of $14,000, or $28,000 to $30,000 per crossing. With the over 56000 railroad crossings just in the United States, in order to attract the railroads to install any new railroad gate, that railroad gate must be relatively inexpensive. As a result, in order to minimize costs, it has been found desirable to provide a gate assembly which is adaptable to an existing railroad stanchion and light assembly. There are also railroad crossings which are in remote areas and have no power supply. As a result, in order to properly protect these crossings, it has been found desirable to provide a gate assembly which is self contained and provides its own power.
It is further noted that in many jurisdictions it is not necessary for a train passing a railroad crossing to blow its whistle when the crossing is completely closed. Thus, gate assemblies that completely close the crossing are even more desirable in such jurisdictions.